


love in a zero-gravity climate

by Dresupi



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Awesome Darcy Lewis, BAMF Darcy Lewis, Banter, Crack, Cuddling & Snuggling, Dubious Science, F/M, Fake Science, Flirting, POV Darcy Lewis, Pre-Relationship, Swearing, Zero-Gravity Cuddling, space, zero-gravity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-08
Updated: 2019-04-08
Packaged: 2020-01-06 20:56:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18396203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dresupi/pseuds/Dresupi
Summary: Darcy’s Tuesday is nothing special. She’s just sliding through a portal into space and helping a shirtless Captain America pilot a SHIELD spaceship back to earth.All in a day’s work, right?





	love in a zero-gravity climate

**Author's Note:**

> _****_
> 
> _**Darcy Lewis April Fool’s Crack Challenge 2019** _
> 
> _Day 8: Anti-Gravity_

Steve wasn’t usually in the lab on Tuesdays.

Darcy couldn’t believe  _ that  _ was her final thought before she was sucked cleanly through the hole that had opened up in front of them. She could have had any number of distressing thoughts. Like… “Gee, I hope there’s oxygen where we’re going” or “Gosh, I hope the lifeforms we encounter are friendly.”  But no. Her first and only thought as she and Captain America were being slurped into another place in space was the downright KevinSmithsian thought, ‘Steve wasn’t even supposed to be here today.’

 

* * *

 

Darcy’s day had started off just fine. Up and out of bed after only hitting the snooze three times. That had to be some kind of a personal record for her. She’d grabbed coffee for herself and Jane, arriving at the lab only a few minutes later than her scheduled time, as opposed to her usual half an hour late.

Like always, her boss was working diligently. Possibly through the night, but Darcy had delegated that particular worry to one of the lab’s many interns. Scientist wrangling was behind her. She was only here to make enough money to pay off her student loans. And to work alongside her bestie. After she’d done that? The sky was the limit.

Meaning she hadn’t really figured things out that far in advance.

But that was really, okay, wasn’t it?

Jane was testing some portal gun, Darcy wasn’t sure of the exact logistics, but there was definitely some theoretical math involved because Janey had filled three whiteboards with her calculations.

Much of the morning was spent calibrating some of the more touchy equipment so Jane could pull the trigger thingie on the portal gun and swear at it for not working.

Or at least, that’s what Dr. Foster  _ was _ doing. Whether that was what Jane had in mind for her Tuesday was up for debate.

Darcy left for lunch, bringing something up for Jane on her way back. It was then that she noticed the Star Spangled Man with a Plan himself. He was standing over near Tony talking in a very low and solemn tone if the expression on his face was any indication.

He was wearing a white t-shirt and jogging pants. Sneakers.

So he was probably fresh from the gym. Or headed there afterward. Yeah, definitely that second one because he wasn’t sweaty or anything.

But did he sweat, though? Darcy nearly toppled over a rolling cart that Jane had pushed away, too deep in her thoughts to notice its existence until it stopped her from moving forward. She ran into it, hitting her hip, which smarted and made a hugely loud racket that she really hoped no one heard.

They did hear it. Of fucking course.

It interrupted Steve and Tony’s discussion of boring and brought Steve over to inquire as to whether or not she was okay. “Are you alright?” he asked, his brow furrowing with a worry that made her cheeks feel hot. Why was Steve Rogers worried about her clumsiness?

She wasn’t okay, but it wasn’t because of the cart. And she didn’t know how to tell him that, so she opened and closed her mouth like a fish, but no sound came out at first. Dumb nerves.

It was at that precise moment in which Jane pressed the button on the doohickey gun again, opening up a swirling, sparkling black hole in front of Darcy and Steve.

Darcy let out a tiny screech as the hole’s force pulled her towards it, the absent thought of ‘Steve wasn’t usually in the lab on Tuesdays,” floated through her head. She heard Jane’s frantic voice calling her name. Or the beginning of it, anyway. Just “Dar!”

And that was as far as Darcy got before the wormhole spit herself and Steve out and closed behind them.

 

* * *

 

She panicked the second she opened her eyes.

Floating. They were floating.

She sucked in a deep breath and was met with no resistance. No horrible feeling like her lungs were about to explode or she was going to drown.

“Leapin’ fucknuts,” she exclaimed, reaching out to brush her fingertips over the wall of the room they were in.

No. Not a room.  There were windows. A windshield. Some kind of crazy piloting apparatus.  And nothing but black sky and stars out the front windshield. It was small, the area. No longer than about twelve feet of ‘walking’ space from the windshield to the back of the craft.

“I was going to go with ‘holy shit’, but yours is better,” Steve said, chuckling a little as he floated past. Below her. He seemed oddly calm for someone thrust into zero gravity in outer freaking space.

“Where are we?” Darcy asked, looking around rapidly for something to hold onto.  She settled for what could have passed as a towel rack on the ceiling, clinging to it like a scared cat on a tree branch. “Does any of this look familiar to you?”

“This certainly feels familiar,” Steve muttered, probably thinking she wouldn’t hear him. But she did. She really fucking did and she wished she hadn’t.

He used the floor grate to pull himself forward and to push up. His eyes scanned the room as he floated up to the ceiling. “Actually, this does look familiar… I think this a SHIELD ship…”

Darcy hated that he used the word ‘ship’ and not ‘plane’ or ‘quinjet’.

“Does that mean you know how to pilot it?” she asked hopefully.

He made a scoffing sound. “Not a ship like this. I only know planes.  But I do know there’s a comm under the pilot’s seat. Emergency backup battery. We should be able to contact someone on the ground and let them know we’re here. And we can get further instructions that way.” 

Steve pushed off the ceiling and Darcy heard a tiny tearing sound.

Alarmed, she looked up just in time to see Steve’s white t-shirt fluttering past so she was treated to an eyeful of Captain Pecs and his Glorious Abs.

Steve either didn’t notice or figured it was a lost cause in the situation they were in. Either way, he didn’t address it. Instead, he rummaged around under the pilot’s seat. He found the comm right where he said it’d be.

He sent out a call. “This is Captain Rogers… I’m not sure where I am, but I know I’m in outer space. There’s a civilian with me, get back soon. Over.”

A voice, clear as crystal responded. “Come again, Captain? Over.”

Steve planted his feet on the ceiling and repeated his message, only to be treated to a long silence.

“How are you there, when we just clocked you in NYC?”

He glanced back at Darcy for confirmation and she floated over, grabbing the comm. “I work for Dr. Jane Foster. She was working on an interdimensional wormhole generator and might have accidentally sent us here. Wherever 'here' is. Uh. Over.”

The man on the other side didn’t miss a beat. “Is she in NYC as well? Because I have on file a frantic call from that area thirty seconds ago. Lots of screaming, something about a wormhole? Over.”

“Affirmative, over,” Steve replied.

Darcy pressed her hand to her heart. Her Janey was already looking for her.

“Okay, we’ll get more info once you’re back on Earth. In the meantime, we’ll get the power reserves turned back on.  It’ll take a little while, but the only other way is to switch it on manually from the outside. You’d need a space suit. There are two on board, but neither of you is trained for that. “

Steve got some kind of look in his eyes, handing the comm to Darcy, who hurriedly signed off and floated after Steve, having to push off the windshield to do so.

She’d have no way of actually stopping Captain America in normal situations. But since there was no gravity, she could wrap her arms around his waist and yank him backward if she hooked her feet around the headrest on the pilot’s chair. Which she did.

And it really was a power trip, watching that muscley fella fly backward every time he made for the back of the ship, to where the space suits were.

“Let me go,” he said, attempting to spin around and just ending up spinning himself in place.

Darcy tried not to laugh, but it was hard.

“Stop it. I’ve been trapped on a doomed ship before,” he reiterated. Like she didn’t know.

“I  _ know _ , dude. Everyone knows what you did. You’re in every US History book. Is this some kind of claustrophobia or…”

“No.  I signed up for this. You didn’t.”

Darcy tilted her head, throwing a look his way that could have frozen ice if they were back on earth.  “Dude. Do you think I didn’t sign up for this? My boss is a renowned astrophysicist. I handled the Dark Elf invasion. And I totally beat Thor in hand to hand combat.”

“You tased him while he was weakened,” Steve retorted. “And no. You didn’t sign up for perilous situations like this.”

“First of all, don’t take my victory away from me. I know you’re freaking out a little, but really. There’s no need to be rude. I’d never tell you that you didn’t beat Thor in hand-to-hand combat.”

Steve smirked. “I beat Thor in hand-to-hand combat.”

“Okay, not to be a stickler, but you didn’t. I did. Weakened form still counts.”

“Fine, you beat Thor and I didn’t. But--”

“Look, I’m an agent with SHIELD too. I’m learning self-defense from the Black Widow. I have a badge thingie just like you do. My clearance level isn’t as high, but whatever. The point is, I signed up for this, knowing damn well something like  _ this _ would happen. And I’ll be damned if Captain 1940s-Booty-Shorties is going to manhandle me into a submissive role!”

He stopped struggling, but it didn’t matter much, it was still spinning them around until he reached out and placed his palm against the wall. “1940s Nooty Shorties?”

“I saw the pics, Cap. I know those were booty shorts and tights.”

He smirked a little and stopped trying to ditch her.

“Fine. So we’ll just sit here until they turn the remote power on?”

“We can thank our lucky stars that there’s oxygen in here,” Darcy mused as they slowly spun around the cockpit. Like the slowest and least controllable 3D tour ever.

“Not to burst your bubble, but I think it might be limited to what’s already here. The fact that we came from a place with oxygen also probably helped matters. Some got sucked in with us through the wormhole.”

“And you’ve been sucking it down in your attempt to Herosplain this situation to me?” she gasped, clapping one hand over her mouth.

“You mean 'save you'? Because my argument was that I was the best candidate to go on a spacewalk and turn on the backup power.”

“ _ No _ . I mean herosplain me. Like I didn’t fight the Dark Elves and I don’t know you have some kind of superhero complex about self-worth and whatever.”

“Touche…” he replied. “I won’t do that again, sorry. I was just…”

Darcy filled in for him. “You were just being Captain America. But I think this situation calls for Steve.”

“Steve, I can do. I think.” He reached out for one of the handles. “So… you wanna turn flips or something to pass the time?”

“I don’t really believe that you aren’t going to make a break for that space suit, but actually, yes? I’ve always wanted to have a zero-gravity flip contest.”

 

* * *

 

She had to yank him back from the space suits three times, and from the look on his face, he could probably keep this up all day. But so could she.

Darcy resolved the situation by wrapping both arms around his bare waist and hanging on for dear life.

“Are you going to hug me all day until the gravity comes back?” Steve asked, a smile apparent in his voice.

Darcy shrugged. “Maybe? You can’t go outside with a whole-ass  _ me _ attached to you.”

“Fine, but I’m hugging you too.” He proceeded to twist in her arms and wrap his beefy biceps of justice around her shoulders, resting his chin on her head. She almost let go of him, but she had a sneaking suspicion that was what he wanted.

She sniffed. “Why are you hugging me? I’m not going anywhere.” She glanced up at him, her eyes meeting his for a long moment.

“Okay. Me either,” he conceded.

She snorted. “Ha, LIke I actually believe you”

“You don’t believe Captain America?” Steve joked. “I stand for truth, justice, and freedom. If you can’t trust me, you can’t trust anybody.”

“Yup, that’s right,” she replied, her arms tightening around his body, pressing her cheek snugly to his shoulder. “I’m not falling for that, Rogers.”

“Fine by me. I’m enjoying this.”

So was she, but she kind of wasn’t going to tell him that.

Their little cuddle-fest was interrupted just a few seconds later.

“Captain Rogers? This is SHIELD Mission Control. We’re turning on the gravity boosters and are ready to talk you through your return flight to earth. Are you ready? Over.”

Darcy felt Steve laugh a little. “I feel like I should ask for ten more minutes…”

“How about I give you double that when we land back on terrain I’m familiar with?” Darcy asked.

“What do I do with my twenty minutes?” he asked.

“That’s entirely up to you,” she replied, cheekily

He smiled that genuine smile of his that had ceased being about honor and patriotism and had started being something that made Darcy a little weak in the knees. Gravity or no.

“We’re ready, SMC. Tell us what to do first, over.”

Darcy couldn’t help but smile a little. She had plans. With a guy. To land a spaceship and spend twenty minutes doing… well, the specifics didn’t matter. She was making plans. Apparently, the sky wasn’t the limit anymore. 

Not bad for a regular Tuesday, honestly.

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so that shirt ripping off was completely selfish and something I put in for me, but I'm not apologizing. It's the crack challenge, right? It was crack. *nods*
> 
> Also, super special thanks to Aenaria for listening to/helping me brainstorm this plot! <3
> 
> Give me some sugar!


End file.
